Sample swatch display book



Nov. 14, 1961 M. B. STEINTHAL 3,003,248

SAMPLE SWATCH DISPLAY BOOK Filed Oct. 26. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT OR MART/N B. STE/NTHAL ATTORNEYS Nov. 14, 1961 M. B. STEINTHAL 3,

SAMPLE SWATCH DISPLAY BOOK Filed Oct. 26, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENIOR MART/N 5. STE/NTHAL BY W W ATTORNEYS States This invention relates to merchandising and more particularly to a sample swatch display book which, when closed, adequately protects the sample swatches and which may be opened and conveniently manipulated to display the swatches individually, to closely compare any two of the swatches or to closely compare any desired number of the swatches.

Heretofore, many different types of display devices have been proposed and utilized, but many of these were relatively cumbersome and difficult to manipulate and while the majority of these provided an adequate display of individual samples, nevertheless, in many cases it was difficult to closely compare one or more samples with each other as by overlapping the samples in offset relationship to permit a close comparison between quality, texture and color.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a sample swatch display book which may be conveniently and economically manufactured from readily available material and which will operate to provide adequate protection for the sample swatches and will also permit convenient inspection of the same.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a sample swatch display book, including means for de tachably securing a plurality of sample swatches in place thereby permitting the convenient removal of a swatch for inspection or for replacement of the same with another swatch.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a sample swatch display book in which the samples may be individually inspected or in which any two or more samples may be juxtaposed in offset relationship to permit a close comparison between such swatches.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective showing a sample swatch display book constructed in accordance with this invention and in folded condition;

FIG. 2 a view in perspective showing the sample swatch display book with the front cover open and also showing the manner of attaching a sample swatch to a backing sheet;

FIG. 3 a view in perspective showing the sample swatch display book in open position and with the swatches in juxtaposed offset position to permit careful comparison of the swatches;

FIG. 4 a view in perspective similar to FIG. 3, but showing two of the swatches in juxtaposed offset relationship to permit close comparison between such two swatches;

FIG. 5 a fragmentary side elevational view showing the structure of the sample swatch display book of this invention and particularly the structure of the accordion pleated sheet utilized to secure the front and back covers together and also the relationship of the backing sheets to such accordion pleated sheet; and

FIG. 6 a fragmentary view in perspective showing the manner of attaching the reinforcing strips to the leaves of the accordion pleated sheet, as well as the manner of detachably securing the backing sheets carrying the swatches to the leaves of the accordion pleated sheet.

With continued reference to the drawing, there is shown a sample swatch display book constructed in accordance atent O "ice with this invention and which may well comprise a front cover 10 and a back cover 11 which may be constructed of any suitable substantially rigid material, such as cardboard, fiber board or the like, and, of course, the front and back covers may, if desired, be covered with a suitable decorative material. As best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the front and back covers 10 and 11 respectively are connected along their rear edges 12 and 13 respectively, by an accordion pleated sheet of flexible material 14. The edge 15 of the sheet 14 may be secured to the front cover 10 in any suitable manner, as by an adhesive, and likewise, the opposite edge 16 of the sheet 14 may be secured to the back cover 11. The sheet of flexible material 14 contains a plurality of hinge folds 22 forming expandable pleats, each pleat having an inside hinge fold and a pair of leaves 18 and 21 extending outwardly from said hinge fold towards respective outside hinge folds integrally connecting said pleat to adjacent flanking pleats.

-' Areinforcing' strip 17 of substantially rigid material is'secured to the leaf 18 of one pleat by a suitable adhe sive, as shown at 19 in FIG. 6 or the reinforcing strip 17 may be secured in any other desired or suitable manner. Similarly, another reinforcing strip 20 of substantially rigid material is secured to the other leaf 21 of the pleat and theflexible sheet 14 provides the hinge fold 22 between the reinforcing strips 17 and 20. Reinforcing strips are likewise secured to the leaves of the other pleats of the accordion pleated sheet 14 to face said leaves. A pair of snap fasteners 23 may be secured to the reinforcing strip 17 and leaf '18 of each pleat and project therethrough for a purpose to be presently described.

A plurality of backing sheets 24 of relatively rigid material are each provided with a pair of snap fasteners 25 which cooperate with the snap fasteners 23 to secure the backing sheets 24 to one leaf of each pleat in the accordion pleated sheet 14. As best shown in FIG. 2, a sample swatch 26 of the material to be displayed may be adhesively secured along one edge, as at 27, to the backing sheet 24 and it is, of course, understood that a different sample swatch will be secured to each backing sheet. In this manner, each backing sheet 24 serves to hold and support a sample swatch 26 and the snap fasteners 23 and 25 serve to releasably secure the backing sheets 24 and sample swatches carried thereby in the display book. Consequently, any desired backing sheet and sample swatch may be removed for the purpose of inspecting the same or for replacement by another sample.

In operation, each backing sheet 24 and sample swatch 26 carried thereby may be turned along the hinge portions 22 in the same manner as the leaves of a book to permit inspection of the individual samples or as shown in FIG. 4, any two of the backing sheets 24 and sample swatches 26 may be offset in juxtaposed position to permit close comparison between such two samples. The structure also permits the displacement of any number of the backing sheets 24 and sample swatches 26 into juxtaposed offset relationship as shown in FIG. 3, to permit close comparison between any number of samples contained in the book. In this way, comparisons can be conveniently obtained without necessitating removal of any of the samples from the book with consequent danger of damage or soiling of the sample.

It should be noted that in closed position of the book, each set of snap fasteners 23, 25 are sandwiched between leaves 21, so that they are protected against impacts that might deform them, and make it difiicult to employ these fasteners again.

It will be obvious that by the above described invention there has been provided a relatively simple, yet highly effective sample swatch display book and one which may be conveniently and economically manufactured and utilized toconveniently store and display Sam-- ous" changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

- A. sample swatch display book comprising front and back covers to form retaining material, an accordion pleated sheet of flexible material extending between and secured at opposite ends to said front and back covers respectively, said sheet containing a plurality of hinge folds forming expandable transverse pleats, each pleat having an inside hinge fold and a pair of leaves extending from said hinge fold towards respective outside hinge folds integrally connecting said pleat to adjacent flanking pleats, one leaf of each pleat being nearer to the front cover than the other leaf of said pleat in closed position of the book, reinforcing strips of rigid material secured to and lining the leaves respectively of said pleats to impart form retaining rigidity to said leaves between hinge folds, a plurality of sample backing sheets, a different sample swatch secured flat to each of said back-' ing sheets, said backing sheets being large enough to support substantially the entire areas of said swatches, said covers being large enough to cover substantially the entire areas of said backing sheets in closed position of the book, snap fasteners means near one end of each backing sheet, and snap fastener means secured to each of those reinforcing strips which are secured to the nearer leaves of the pleats and constituting mates to the snap fastener means on the corresponding backing sheet, each backing sheet having its snap fastener means releasably engaging the snap fastener means on the corresponding reinforcing strip with the backing sheet flat against the reinforcing strip and with the sample swatch disposed on the side of the backing sheet facing toward the front cover in closed position of the book, the leaves inbetween said nearer leaves being free from attachment to swatch backing sheets and the fastener means on each backing sheet and on the corresponding reinforcing strip being protectively sandwiched in closed position of the book between a pair of said inbetween strip reinforced leaves located on opposite sides of and adjacent to the leaf supporting the latter backing sheet and the latter reinforced strip.

References Cited. in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 630,717 King .d Aug. 8, 1899 1,126,138 Vliet Jan. 26, 1915 1,603,538 Heifer Oct. 19, 1926 1,719,648 Browne July 2, 1929 2,301,647 Steinthal Nov. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 499,469 Canada Jan. 26, 1954 11,675 Great Britain Aug. 12, 1915 

